Judge Claude Frollo
Judge Claude Frollo is the main antagonist of Disney's 1996 animated feature film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He is a ruthless Parisian justice minister who, after a series of sensitive circumstances, becomes the begrudged caretaker of the deformed Quasimodo. With a majority of the film's heavy thematic elements being directly tied to Frollo's story arc — such as lust and genocide — he is widely considered to be amongst the darkest Disney Villains of all time. Personality At the beginning of the film, Frollo has two central constructs in his mind: his ruthless and brutal pursuit of enforcing the laws of Paris and his apparent devotion to Catholicism. Because of these things and having lived a life of "power and control," Frollo expresses sort of pride that comes from a feeling of moral superiority -- as he is the enforcer of justice. In the "Bells of Notre Dame," the film mentions that the only time the minister felt any sort of guilt or contrition is when the Archdeacon addresses Frollo's manslaughter of Quasimodo's mother and his attempted infanticide of Quasimodo. This moment reveals Frollo's deepest flaw: his lack of a self-critical conscience. Above all, Frollo believes what he is doing is right to the point where he twists the intentions of others to seem to him as evil or misguided. Due to his Catholic faith, Frollo rejects the spiritualist customs of the gypsies and believes they are scandalizing the people of Paris -- thus interfering with his goal of a more morally pure Paris. He focuses much of his efforts to locating and punishing the gypsies. In interacting with others, Frollo is typically solemn, critical, patronizing, superficially kind, and generally negative. He is skilled at reading the motives of others, assisting in his lies and manipulations to the protagonists throughout the film. He has little sense of humor, aside from a few morbid jokes and sarcasm. As opposed to the Archdeacon, Frollo prefers the more negative aspects of his religion such as sin and eternal damnation rather than virtues of forgiveness and mercy. Due to his defective conscience, Frollo persistently believes he is a morally better person that most everyone else. Frollo is his own patron saint. Towards the middle of the film, Frollo develops a lust for Esmerelda which contributes to a failing image of his own moral perfection. Unwilling to accept or mend this, he blames Esmerelda, Satan, and even God for this dilemma. Frollo then begins to enter much more aggressive and persecutory state in his search for this woman. He later tries to make the gypsy his mistress under the guise of converting her to his religion when she is finally caught. Towards the very end, when Esmerelda rejects Frollo's advances for the last time, he no longer feels the need to make penance with Quasimodo and impudently rejects his feelings of guilt for having killed his mother. His final words emphasize his delusion of moral perfection as he attempts to kill Quasimodo and Esmeralda: "And He shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit!" Appearances The Hunchback of Notre Dame At the film's beginning, Frollo ambushes a group of gypsies entering Paris illegally and upon seeing one of them with what he thought to be a bundle hiding stolen goods, he chases the panicked latter to Notre Dame where he kills her by kicking her down the steps of the cathedral, thus breaking her skull. However, he discovers that her "stolen goods" were actually her deformed baby son. Believing the child to be an unholy demon, Frollo prepares to drop him down a nearby well, but for the intervention of the Archdeacon, who reprimands Frollo for killing an innocent woman and tells him that the only way to atone for his sin is to raise the boy as his own son, to which he begrudgingly agrees after seeing the stone statues of saints decorating Notre Dame apparently turn their eyes on him. However, he only agrees to save what is left of his soul and because the child may come in handy someday. Frollo names him "Quasimodo" (literally "Half-formed"), and raises him in the cathedral, hidden from the outside world, constantly teaching him that he would be considered an ugly and hideous monster by the cruel outside world. Twenty years later, Frollo summons the gallant soldier Phoebus from the war to be his new Captain of the Guard, since the last one was "a bit of a disappointment" to him and was being tortured to death in the Palace of Justice. He hopes to clear the gypsies out of Paris with Phoebus' help and go to Heaven when he dies. While attending the annual Festival of Fools, Frollo discovers a gypsy dancer named Esmeralda, who attracts him with her beauty. Shortly afterwards, he learns that Quasimodo left the bell tower against his orders, entered the Festival and was crowned the King of Fools. Frollo refuses to help Quasimodo when the latter is being publicly assaulted and humiliated by the crowd in order to teach him a lesson, even when the hunchback implores for his help; he even delays Phoebus' request to stop it. He is enraged when Esmeralda openly defies him for his cruelty and frees Quasimodo, and in retaliation, he orders her arrested. After witnessing the gypsy vanish in a cloud, he rashly concludes her to be a witch and immediately orders Phoebus to bring her in alive. With the crowd's help, she escapes into the Cathedral, where he finds her speaking with Phoebus and orders them to force her out of the Cathedral, but is rebuffed by the Archdeacon, who orders them all out. Frollo pretends to leave before catching Esmerelda by surprise and laying hands on her; this reveals to her that he has lustful feelings for her. He then confronts her and tells her that he will arrest her if she dares to leave. However, she ventures up to the bell tower and is reunited with Quasimodo, who helps her escape. That evening, Frollo is disturbed by his attraction to Esmeralda which he believes is turning him to sin and pleads the Virgin Mary to protect him from her "spell" and to let Esmeralda taste the fires of Hell if she will not be his. Upon learning from a Brutish Guard that she has escaped the cathedral, he is enraged and, with his guards the next day, begins a ruthless manhunt to find her, burning down the houses of anyone suspected of sheltering gypsies and interrogating gypsies who were captured. He later attempts to execute an innocent family whom he suspects of interacting with gypsies by burning down their house with them still inside, but an appalled Phoebus intervenes and rescues them; Frollo declares Phoebus a traitor and attempts to execute him, but a disguised Esmeralda slings a stone at his horse, throwing him off and buying Phoebus time to escape. The guards fire arrows at Phoebus, resulting in him being wounded and falling into a lake, and continue firing until Frollo stops them. They proceed across a bridge to finish the manhunt. Once they leave, Phoebus is quickly rescued by Esmeralda after being left for dead. Returning to the smoldering city, Frollo is informed that Esmeralda is still at large. He goes to the bell tower, thinking Quasimodo may be responsible for assisting Esmeralda. Upon deducing this is true, Frollo angrily lashes out at his charge, then calmly claims that the Court of Miracles has been found and will be attacked at dawn with one thousand men. A misled Quasimodo accompanies Phoebus to the Court, and Frollo and his army of thugs follow and arrest the gypsies. Frollo notices that Phoebus has survived and remarks that he intends to "remedy it". Seeing this, Quasimodo begs him to call off the guards. Frollo refuses and tells them to take the hunchback to the bell tower, making sure he "stays there." In the square, Frollo sentences Esmeralda to death but offers to save her from immolation if she chooses him. She refuses to become Frollo's mistress and is prepared to be burned at the stake, but Quasimodo rescues her after she passes out and brings her to the cathedral. Frollo orders his soldiers to pick up a large beam, which was dropped from the cathedral and nearly crushed him, and to use it to break down Notre Dame's doors. Enraged at this defilement and attack on the beloved cathedral, as well as tired of Frollo's tyranny and rallied by Phoebus, the citizens of Paris arm themselves, free the gypsies and rebel against Frollo's guards. Though Notre Dame's ancient doors manage to hold for a while, they eventually break down. Frollo gains entry to into the cathedral, directly defying the Archdeacon when he claims he will not tolerate murder in the church. Before proceeding, Frollo throws him down a flight of stairs and locks him out of the bell tower so he could not follow and interfere. He then confronts Quasimodo in the bell tower, falsely consoles him for Esmeralda's apparent death, and attempts to kill him with a dagger, resulting in a brief yet violent struggle in which Quasimodo overpowers Frollo, wrenching the dagger from his grip and throwing him to the floor. Quasimodo then hovers over Frollo, who momentarily abandons his pride and begs Quasimodo to listen, but Quasimodo says that he should be the one to listen. Quasimodo then angrily yells out that all his life Frollo has told that the world is a dark, cruel place, and now that he sees that the only thing so dark and cruel about the world is people who are just like Frollo. Just then, Esmeralda awakens, alive, and Quasimodo rushes her to safety. Infuriated, Frollo draws his sword and chases them onto a balcony overlooking the city, slashing at them with his sword with Quasimodo unable to fight back due to protecting Esmeralda. Judge Claude Frollo Frollo falls into the molten copper with the gargoyle, realizing the hard way that he is the wicked one. In his rage, Frollo finally admits that he killed Quasimodo's mother when she attempted to save her baby, much to Quasimodo's shock. As such, Frollo decides to kill Quasimodo himself like he "should have done" 20 years ago. Frollo attempts to use his cape to throw Quasimodo off the balcony, but the hunchback manages to hold on and ends up pulling Frollo along with him, unwilling to let him fall. Frollo dangles momentarily for his life, but he is soon able to swing and grab onto a gargoyle attached to the wall. As he raises himself in perfect position to kill Esmeralda (who is attempting to save Quasimodo), his eyes and teeth are shown in a fire-like color, laughing wickedly as he delivers his last blasphemy ("And He shall smite the wicked, and plunge them into the fiery pit!"). However, just as Frollo raises his sword, the gargoyle starts to break off (possibly due to earlier damage from Frollo's sword) and he falls, clinging on for dear life and dropping his sword. In his last moments, the gargoyle's face comes to life and demonically roars at him, terrifying the latter. This was a very clear sign that Frollo was both too dangerous and too blasphemous to remain alive. It breaks off completely and angrily sends the screaming Frollo falling into a vast lake of molten metal that had been created by Quasimodo and the gargoyles, where he meets his death after coming into physical contact, resulting in a fiery explosion. With Frollo gone, his tyranny has finally ended and his soldiers are defeated and surrender to the French army. The Hunchback of Notre Dame II Despite Frollo not making a full appearance in the second film (due to the fact that he is obviously dead), he is alluded several times. For example, when Esmeralda dances for a crowd, Clopin says "Careful, or you may lose your heart." and holds up a puppet with a thumping heart that looks very much like Frollo, possibly referencing Frollo's lust for Esmeralda. Also, when Madellaine begs Quasimodo to trust her, Quasimodo says "How can I? I already made that mistake.", possibly referring to the mistake he made of trusting Frollo during his lifetime. ''Kingdom Hearts Dream: Drop Distance'' Judge Claude Frollo serves as a villain in the video game Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. In this mix of the Disney and Square Enix multiverses, he is confronted in the world La Cité des Cloches (French for The City of Bells), depicting a medieval Paris around Notre Dame Cathedral. As Sora and Riku, the primary protagonists, are travelling separately to fully restore the Sleeping Worlds from Darkness, they end up in La Cité des Cloches, where they both witness different events of the movie. In this version, Frollo is voiced by Corey Burton. Riku first arrives when Phoebus is chasing Esmeralda at Frollo's command, but denies having seen her running away. As Frollo is scolding Phoebus, Esmeralda befriends Riku, telling him about Frollo's genocidal quest and directs him to Notre Dame. While initially sympathetic to Frollo, having himself fallen in Darkness, Riku realizes the abuses he puts Quasimodo through and encourages the bell-boy to follow his heart. Meanwhile, Frollo accosts Sora, believing him to be a gypsy due to the clothes he wears. As Phoebus suddenly barges in, reporting that monsters have invaded the town, Sora deduces that he speaks about Dream Eaters and rushes to fight them, followed by Phoebus who worries that he is but a kid. Left alone, Frollo starts ranting against all of the "threats to law and order" he spent his life fighting. They witness Quasimodo, crowned Kings of Fools as in the movie, riding Dream Eaters. Frollo's arrival causes the Dream Eaters to go berserk, and Sora confronts them as Esmeralda helps Quasimodo go back to the cathedral. Upon venturing into Notre Dame, Sora witnesses Quasimodo help Esmeralda escape from the guards that prevent her from leaving the cathedral's sanctuary, then Frollo ruining Quasimodo's self-esteem with false kindness. As Riku is searching for Frollo, hoping to save him from Darkness, he witnesses him trying to burn the innocent miller family in their house, with an outraged Phoebus standing against him to defend them. When Frollo summons the powerful Nightmare Dream Eater known as the Wargoyle, delusionally ranting that it is a gift from God to help him "cleanse the world", Riku understands that the fanatic has sunk too low and resolves to stop him. With Phoebus wounded Riku rushes after Frollo alone. While Phoebus has been stripped from his rank, he warns Sora that Frollo is about to invade the Court of Miracles. With Quasimodo's help, they rush there to warn the gypsies, but as in the movie, this is a trap and Frollo barges in after following them. He subdues them with his Nightmares Dream Eaters takes Esmeralda prisoner, indifferent to Quasimodo's desperate pleas, and prepares to burn her at the stake. Sora rushes to stop him, but he has a Dream Eater knock out the boy. When Sora reaches Notre Dame, Quasimodo has already rescued Esmeralda from the stake and is taking her into the cathedral. Riku confronts Frollo atop Notre Dame’s towers, as the unhinged fanatic is gleefully watching Paris burning, and calls him out on his delusion, calling him "a sad old man with a dark heart", but Frollo summons the Wargoyle to "pass judgment". As the monster's appearance knocks him overboard, Frollo falls into the fire while cackling maniacally and yelling "Judgment is mine!" However, he somehow survives, unless the dream in which Sora is present is not the same, which remains unclear. After a short confrontation with Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and Young Xehanort, Riku defeats the Wargoyle and shatters its wing, causing it to fall into the fire. Since Sora must face the now-wingless Wargoyle, hinting that it is the same that fought Riku, he cannot prevent Frollo from barging into the cathedral after his former ward. Just like in the movie, Frollo attacks Quasimodo and Esmeralda with a sword, and reveals the awful truth about Quasimodo's mother's fate, but he fells overboard after Quasimodo dodges his sword strike. As Esmeralda desperately tries to keep Quasimodo from falling, the fanatic climbs the gargoyle while blaspheming, only to fall to his well-deserved doom. Riku In Riku's story, Frollo questions why he bothered summoning Phoebus if he could not find Esmeralda. Frollo is seen trying to "pass judgement" against a family by using the Wargoyle. Luckily, Riku and Phoebus make it in time. Back at Notre Dame, Frollo falls off the balcony, yelling "Judgement is mine!". Afterward, Ansem appears and briefly threatens Riku with Frollo's dropped sword, before discarding it and leaving. ''Kingdom Keepers'' In the novel series Kingdom Keepers, Frollo appears in one of the books. He is one of the Overtakers, a group of certain Disney villains that plan to take over all of the Disney parks. He tried to drown one of the Kingdom Keeper kids. He, along with Maleficent and the baddie in charge (Chernabog), are the main Overtakers (along with Evil Queen and Cruella De Vil). Quotes Trivia *Frollo is arguably considered to be Disney's most evil and sinister antagonist to date. In fact, Frollo was meant by Disney Studios to be as evil and as vile as possible, in an attempt to avert the trope "Evil is Cool," common to many Disney villains. Instead, he wound up being a Love to Hate example. *He has the most screentime of any major Disney villain; Frollo is shown for roughly a third of the movie's total runtime. *In the original book by Victor Hugo, Frollo is the Archdeacon of Notre Dame. He is actually caring towards Quasimodo, whom he adopted out of genuine mercy, and his good-for-nothing brother Jehan. But when Esmeralda comes along, Frollo's lust for her results in a slow descent into villainy. *Frollo's genocidal agenda against Gypsies mirrors the Nazi's own genocide against Gypsies (which occurred concurrently to the genocide against European Jews). Like Hitler, Frollo is also an oppressive dictator who rules through fear and intimidation, and has a complete willingness to kill anyone who gets in his way. *When Frollo rages at Quasimodo for helping Esmerelda escape, he tosses the figure of the Gypsy, knocking over a figure of himself in the process. Also, aside from the obvious symbolism he's invoking by burning Esmeralda's figure, there is how he smashes all of the other figures and the cathedral model in his rage. Not only does this foreshadow Frollo's breakdown, it specifically shows how he is willing to do anything, such as killing the citizens or attacking the cathedral itself, to ensure that he gets what he wants, which eventually leads Frollo straight to his downfall. 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